We are all aware that incomes are not keeping up with the rising cost of food (and everything else). To help, organizations such as Helping Harvest are trying to meet the need.
Helping Harvest is a food bank program assisting people in Berks and Schuylkill counties through Mobile Markets. More than 110,000 people are fed each year with food received from Helping Harvest. Visit www.helpingharvest.org for more information about the organization, its history, and its programs.
Volunteers are greatly needed! Mobile Markets are truck to trunk distributions, and volunteers are needed 30 to 45 minutes before distribution begins.
Helping Harvest also offers other programs such as The Weekender for youth to take food home over weekends and Senior Food Boxes for mostly homebound seniors.
If you are in need of food and would like more information about Helping Harvest programs, call 610-926-5802 ext. 206.
For information about volunteering, contact Kelsey Pfisterer, Volunteer Coordinator, at 610-926-5802 ext. 220 or kpfisterer@helpingharvest.org.
Call Seniors
Help is needed to make phone calls through a program called Operation Reach Out, a companion program to Meals on Wheels. ORO volunteers call to chat with meal recipients, usually seniors, on days that meals are not delivered. The callers provide conversation and make sure the seniors are well and have received their meals.
Locally, the Schuylkill County Office of Senior Services contracts with Diakon Community Services, a nonprofit organization based in Pottsville, to operate MOW in Schuylkill County. Volunteers are needed to make phone calls to seniors who receive MOW to ensure their well-being and provide socialization and connection.
Volunteers are also needed to deliver meals in specific areas.
For more information about volunteering with Diakon with any of these programs, call Kathi Conahan-Baltzelle, Diakon Volunteer Coordinator, 570-624-3013.
Celebrate Juneteenth
Join the Pottsville Free Public Library, 215 W. Market Street, and NAACP Schuylkill Branch for the annual celebration of Juneteenth from 3-4:30 p.m. June 20.
Juneteenth commemorates the day when 250,000 slaves in the state of Texas, which became the last bastion for slavery during the final days of the Civil War, were declared free. The holiday’s name is a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” as it was on June 19, 1865, when the U.S. Army ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas.
For more information, call the library at 570-622-8880 or visit www.pottsvillelibrary.org. All ages are welcome to participate in this free event.
Volunteer Information
Any nonprofit organization looking for volunteers or wishing to promote an upcoming public event is invited to contact Darla Troutman, 570-622-3103 ext. 1752, for inclusion in this weekly column.
For more information about SVP, call Troutman, SVP Coordinator, or email dtroutman@SchuylkillCountyPA.gov. SVP is a program of the Schuylkill County Office of Senior Services and the County of Schuylkill.